I can’t really remember a couple that was more full of energy and excitement on their wedding day than Sydney and Jett. Jett is a MLB player and he and Sydney is a counselor at a Catholic School. They had just recently moved to Arizona from California when I met them, over a year ago, to talk about their big day. The two met while working at the Boys and Girls club, during one of Jett’s off seasons and he surprised with her a proposal in front of the love sign here in Scotts

I was lucky enough to meet these two at the WeddingWire Fall Fete this past October, where they entered to win a free engagement shoot I gave away : ) I was beyond stoked when I drew their name out of the entry box! Ted and “Edy” actually met 10 years ago at a restaurant. They dated for a while, but at the time, Ted was in business school and Edy was a flight attendant. Their hectic busy schedules just didn’t leave a whole lot of time for love at that point. The, five years l

Been busy snapping away at back to back weddings the past few weekends, but wanted to share some fun captures :) Mel and Ryan had a little desert storm drop in on their wedding ceremony, but that's good luck! And it left us with an incredible desert storm sky for their couple shots! (stay tuned for more). My obsession with gorgeous window light and veils has continued! There really isn't anything more intoxicating than a bride wrapped in the translucent, sheer shell of a veil

It might just be happening to me, but I’m starting to see a trend running through several of my recent wedding bookings . . . indoor ceremony locations! (Cue the scary, dramatic music) Maybe now that it's cooling off for our wedding season here in Arizona, I'll be seeing less of it, but for now, let's talk about how to deal : ) There are a couple reasons most wedding photographers aren’t huge fans of indoor ceremony locations, but the main one is that usually, indoor locatio

Woohoo! Wedding season is well underway and I’ve been busy capturing my couple’s smooches, laughs and tears. Because the hustle and bustle that happens before the big day is always pretty chaotic, I always try to send my brides a little checklist. If they are avid email-checkers, like me, I email it. If they are married to their phone (an who isn’t!?) I send it as a text. If their heads are ready to explode and I think that one more “reminder” might just make them scream, I s

1. Hire a local planner Wedding planners are marvelous. They are like little fairy-godmothers that swoop in and fix things you never dreamed would need fixing. On my wedding day, I had carefully planned out all the little details. That included hand writing little seating cards for all my guests with antique playing card faces (my husband and I are Texas Hold'em players). Well, on the day of, it was really windy. So windy that all those perfectly laid out little cards blew ri

I’m not sure about the rest of you wedding photographers out there in Arizona, but as a millennial business woman, I’ve learned a few tried true and tenets over the last few years: 1. If you aren’t on social media, you might as well not exist 2. You need to be available… really, really available 3. Uber Speed in response = bookings With these concepts in mind, I went into the webinar held by WeddingWire (Can You Hear Me Know?) this past week with a little healthy skepticism.

Ok, we all know it’s hot enough to cook a pizza in an Arizona car at the moment…literally…I saw that on the news a week ago! I don’t care how “dry” the heat is, 112 degrees is HOT! And did I mention that this is monsoon season? So yeah, Arizona can be brutal this time of year. But while most brides-to-be are planning their wedding for the winter, fall or spring here in Arizona, there’s another piece to the bridal puzzle that seems to be giving a lot of my future clients some

For Sunday this week, I admit, I'm a little behind on the blogging : ( BUT! I did just send out the newest newsletter to all you lucky followers out there :) Didn't get it? Want it? Check it out at the link below and be sure to sign up to receive all the latest, each month. june's newsletter #destinationwedding #firstdance #countrychic #vendors #timeless #music #engaged #wedding #romantic #photojournalism #photography #weddingphotographer #photographer #weddings #enagement #p

Well, for those of you that don’t live in the middle of the sweltering southwest desert, let me tell you, we are smack-dab in the middle of an Arizona summer here in the Valley! Arizona is kind of a unique place to be as far as the wedding industry goes. We actually have TWO wedding seasons. But right now isn’t one of them : ) While the rest of the wedding photographers in the nation are happy snapping away outdoors, we have to find some creative ways to beat the heat during

Over the past month or so, I’ve had a lot of questions surrounding the “engagement shoot.” Do I include one in my package pricing? Is it really worth it? How much more should a wedding photographer charge for the shoot? The list goes on from there. I’ve gone back and forth on this subject. I know many photographers hesitate to add it into the overall cost of the wedding photography. After all, it’s a whole other day of shooting. You have to travel to the shoot, then it’s an h

Amie, her mother, and her sister actually all made the long drive south from Flagstaff to meet with me after we had emailed a few times about her wedding. She loved my work, but wanted to meet in person to be sure we would be a good fit. Amie was sweet and kind with an infectious smile. After we worked out the details, it was decided that I would be her girl for wedding photography on the big day! The group then made the most of their time in the Valley by finishing their wed

Recently, I’ve been seeing a new trend popping up on social media (Instagram, specifically) that I’m kind of falling in love with. If you spent time and energy making sure that your wedding invitations and your RSVP cards turned out splendidly, why not share them during the wedding? I’ve seen some really beautiful images lately of a copy of the wedding invitation, combined with macro ring shots, or bouquet images. If you’re a bride who’s planning a gorgeous wedding, be sure t

Recently, I’ve been meeting with potential brides that have booked their venue (or are getting ready to) and now, they want a photographer! It seems like more and more, photography is number 1 or 2 on their bridal “to do” list. How phenomenal for me! But with this bump in priority, I’ve also found myself being asked some basic planning questions and the one I get a lot is…”Do I really need a planner?” While I usually say the dreaded "It depends." I've recently come up with so

The first thing I remember thinking when sipping my tea, waiting to meet Gino and Kirsten to talk about becoming their wedding photographer, was his name : ) Gino Donofrio. I remember thinking, “Wow! Can you get any more Italian than that!?” Gino actually contacted me first via email, to discuss my photography, and then I met both of them in person about a month before the big day, just to go over details. Gino and Kirsten are just a perfect couple. I’m sure a lot of people s

During my conversations with wedding planners recently, I’ve learned that booking a wedding photographer is one of the first items on bridal checklists. Many soon-to-be-brides actually book their wedding photographers before their venues, or even before finding their dress! That’s terrific because it means that photography is important to them. The ideal client : ) But once you’ve found the artist for you, the one you want to capture all those amazing moments, here is somethi

It was well over 100 degrees when I met with Matt and Emily to shoot their engagement session at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale. We were in a bit of a time-crunch pickle as Matt was only in town briefly, and was headed back to Texas the following day. Usually, I really push for engagement shoots to be outdoors. The lighting is so much kinder to the skin, the backgrounds are muted and natural looking, and you don’t have to worry about the weird shadows that bad fluorescen

This is the story of Jenny and Dane. A wonderful couple who planned their wedding in the blistery mountains of Alaska, and ended up saying their “I dos” on a luscious tropical cliff, overlooking a turquoise bay in Kauai. Jenny has a natural ease and classic grace about her that translated perfectly into a stunning, elegant wedding. You would think that the stress of planning a wedding a world away, on her own, would frazzle any bride, but not Jenny! She found the venue, the c

This past week, while working in post, I found myself thinking a lot about sunset shots. A lot of brides love them, and I do too! They are incredibly romantic and human skin loves that rich, buttery light, just before the sun dips. But I’ve also seen a lot of “contrived” sunset shots while exploring wedding galleries and I have to tell you, I’m not a fan. When I say contrived, I mean not natural looking. I don’t mean HDR toning, fish-eye lenses, or anything that dramatic. I a